Surtees OK
Sir: Not having read Mr Welcome's book about Robert Smith Surtees from start to finish, I am not quite sure to what extent Mr Grimond's bias against the latter derives from that work which he reviewed (14 August); from the two novels he unearthed in the library of the House of Commons; or from any other source. It seems to me it is from the book, where Mr Welcome himself shows prejudices, as for example in the rela- tionship between Surtees and Apperley, against the novelist. And Mr Welcome is rather given to tilting at windmills.
To stigmatise Surtees as 'foxy', 'coarse', `mean of spirit', 'lacking in personal bravado' and above all 'a hateful character and a bit of an ass' is not only untrue and unfair, but unworthy of Mr Grimond, who is widely regarded as fair minded. Surtees, who had a penetrating view of humanity and a strongly developed sense of the ludicrous, used his trenchant wit to demolish vulgarity, humbug and above all pretension. If his characters were often less than admirable, they were real people. As to his novels being 'too disjointed to be read at a stretch', they were not designed to be read at a stretch any more than the novels of Dickens, Trollope, Thackeray and others who first published in serial numbers.
As to his private life, he was undoubtedly diffident; at times aloof. He was unkind to Apperley in Hendley (not Hadley) Cross, but with some reason. During their rela- tionship it was Apperley who behaved like an ass — or worse. My grandfather, who was 14 years younger, was nevertheless his close friend, and they regularly hunted hounds together. I know my grandfather's opinion: that he was highly regarded as a good, considerate landlord, a progressive farmer, and a fine horseman.
In the end, Mr Grimond relents a little, conceding such virtues as 'reliable husband', 'conscientious', `good-feeling' and 'good sense'. How does he reconcile that with 'an unpleasant character without a great deal of the stuff from which biographies are distilled'? And, for heaven's sake, doesn't he realise that Robert Smith Surtees was not at all con- cerned to have a biography?
Major J.F.H. Surtees
4 Chelsea Studios, London SW6
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